Lithium, not surprisingly, stood out as a commodity of interest. While cautioning against over-enthusiasm for the exploration rush, Berry and Hykawy each affirmed the need for juniors to find new sources of the metal. Cobalt and scandium featured prominently too, as did other commodities including what Kaiser called “the weird metals”—lesser known stuff that’s vital to our lives but threatened with security of supply.

Kaiser also noted he was addressing a crowd larger than his last PDAC audience, another indication that “we’ve turned the corner.”

Attendees also met and mingled with company reps. Potential investors learned about a wide gamut of projects aspiring to meet a growing demand for necessities, conveniences and luxuries.

Presented by Zimtu Capital TSXV:ZC, the forum’s success will make it an annual event, said company president Dave Hodge. Berry emceed the conference, holding the unenviable task of “making sure Dave stays well-behaved.”

Most companies were core holdings of Zimtu, a prospect generator that connects explorers with properties and also shares management, technical and financing expertise. Zimtu offers investors participation in a range of commodities and companies, including some at the pre-IPO stage.

After sampling high-grade lithium on its Hidden Lake project in the Northwest Territories earlier this month, 92 Resources TSXV:NTY plans to return in mid-July for a program of mapping, exposing spodumene-bearing pegmatite dykes, and channel sampling. The company closed the final tranche of a private placement totalling $318,836 in April. Hidden Lake’s located near Highway 4, about 40 kilometres from Yellowknife and within the Yellowknife Pegmatite Belt.

With one of the Athabasca Basin’s largest and most prospective exploration portfolios, ALX Uranium TSXV:AL has a number of projects competing for flagship status. Among them is Hook-Carter, which covers extensions of three known conductive trends, one of them hosting the sensational discoveries of Fission Uranium TSX:FCU and NexGen Energy TSXV:NXE. ALX’s strategic partnership with Holystone Energy allows that company to invest up to $750,000 in ALX and retain the right to maintain its ownership level for three years. ALX closed a private placement first tranche of $255,000 last month, amid this year’s busy news flow from a number of the company’s active projects.

Arctic Star Exploration TSXV:ADD boasts one of northern Canada’s largest 100%-held diamond exploration portfolios. Among the properties are the drill-ready Stein project in Nunavut and others in the Lac de Gras region that’s the world’s third-largest diamond producer by value. North Arrow Minerals TSXV:NAR holds an option to earn up to 55% of Arctic Star’s Redemption property.

Aurvista Gold TSXV:AVA considers its Douay property one of Quebec’s largest and last undeveloped gold projects. The Abitibi property has resources totalling 238,400 ounces of gold indicated and 2.75 million ounces inferred. Now, with $1.1 million raised last month, the company hopes to increase those numbers through a summer program including 4,000 metres of drilling. Douay’s 2014 PEA used a 5% discount rate to forecast a post-tax NPV of $16.6 million and a post-tax IRR of 40%.

Looking for lithium in Nevada, Belmont Resources TSXV:BEA now has a geophysics crew en route to its Kibby Basin property, which the company believes could potentially host lithium-bearing brines in a similar geological setting to the Clayton Valley, about 65 kilometres south. Results from the gravity survey will help identify targets for direct push drilling and sampling.

A mineral perhaps overlooked in the effort to supply green technologies, zeolite has several environmental applications. Canadian Zeolite TSXV:CNZ holds two projects in southern British Columbia, Sun Group and Bromley Creek, the latter an active quarrying operation.

With a high-grade, near-surface rare earths deposit hosted in minerals that have proven processing, Commerce Resources TSXV:CCE takes its Ashram project in Quebec towards pre-feasibility. The relatively straightforward mineralogy contributes to steady progress in metallurgical studies. Commerce also holds southeastern B.C.’s Blue River tantalum-niobium deposit, which reached PEA in 2011 and a resource update in 2013.

Permitted for construction following a 2014 PEA, Copper North Mining’s (TSXV:COL) Carmacks copper-gold-silver project now undergoes revised PEA studies. The agenda calls for improved economics by creating a new leach and development plan for the south-central Yukon property. In central B.C. the company holds the Thor exploration property, 20 kilometres south of the historic Kemess mine.

News from her geologist husband helped Amina Weicker swing a $40,000 profit through insider trading, the British Columbia Securities Commission found. On April 10 the BCSC stated the investor’s husband, Robert Weicker, “tipped his wife” and that she consequently “engaged in illegal insider trading.”

The circumstances go back to 2011, when Geo Minerals Ltd, then trading on the Venture, was in takeover talks with New Gold TSX:NGD. Between September 12 and October 11 of that year—while negotiations progressed, a non-binding letter of intent was received and lock-up agreements were signed—Amina Weicker bought a total of 729,945 shares at prices between $0.10 and $0.11. The two companies announced the takeover on October 17, 2011. Seven weeks later Amina Weicker sold at $0.16, realizing an approximately $40,000 profit.

During that time Robert Weicker was a consulting geologist for Geo.

A BCSC panel found “he informed his wife of material information that had not been generally disclosed regarding the acquisition of that company. Amina Weicker then used this information, prior to its public disclosure, to purchase securities of Geo Minerals.”

The panel concluded that Amina Weicker committed insider trading and Robert Weicker disclosed material facts by someone in a special relationship with an issuer.

An allegation of insider trading against Robert Weicker was dismissed.

The parties have until next month to make submissions on the sanctions to be levied by the commission.

Speaking to ResourceClips.com, BCSC media relations manager Richard Gilhooley said he can’t comment on how and when the commission learned about the case. As for the time it took to come before a panel, “These investigations tend to be quite complex and there are a lot of moving parts, particularly with an insider trading investigation,” he stated. “So I think it’s down to the complexity of these cases.”

Managing Director/CEO Wayne Taylor commented, “The results are the best to date and demonstrate both width and grade continuity between holes down-plunge as we track these zones further away from the areas of prior mining. The two I Lens intercepts of 14.5 metres grading 3.66% copper, 3.71% lead, 11.72% zinc, 121 g/t silver and 1.92 g/t gold and 9 metres grading 2.92% copper, 4.64% lead, 8.61% zinc, 167 g/t silver and 2.07 g/t gold are outstanding. In addition, the daughter wedges have intersected a new high-grade mineralised lens that was previously unrecognized and further expands the resource potential. This is a significant result in support of defining new resources at the Woodlawn Underground Project.”